A gender-comparison between verbal and figural divergent thinking in 4-year-old children, using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and the Alternative Uses Task

Abstract

Gender differences between verbal and figural divergent thinking in 4-your-old children were examined using the Torrance Test of Creativity, as a figural divergent thinking task, and the Alternative Uses task, as a verbal divergent thinking task. The sample comprised of 100 4-year old children (girls N = 53, boys N = 47). A repeated measures MANOVA, comparing fluency and originality scores from both tests, showed that, overall, girls tend to score higher on fluency. This effect was not found for originality, although girls did score slightly higher on originality than boys. Although the two tests are not comparable, participants did tend to score higher on verbal fluency in comparison to figural fluency. In contrast, with regards to originality, participants tend to score higher on figural originality in comparison to verbal originality. Possible explanations for these results are discussed as well as recommendations for future research. This study suggests that, even at the age of four, there are significant gender differences when testing divergent thinking.